Dental caries induction in experimental animals by clinical strains of Streptococcus mutans isolated from Japanese children

Oral implantation and the cariogenic activity of clinical strains of Streptococcus mutans which had been isolated from Japanese children and labeled with streptomycin-resistance were examined in specific pathogen-free Sprague-Dawley rats. All the seven strains tested were easily implanted and persisted during the experimental period. Extensive carious lesions were produced in rats inoculated with clinical strains of S. mutans belonging to serotypes c, d, e, and f, and maintained on caries-inducing diet no. 2000. Noninfected rats did not develop dental caries when fed diet no. 2000. Type d S. mutans preferentially induced smooth surface caries in the rats. Strains of other serotypes primarily developed caries of pit and fissure origin. Caries also developed in rats inoculated with reference S. mutans strains BHTR and FAIR (type b) that had been maintained in the laboratories for many years. However, the cariogenicity of the laboratory strains was found to have decreased markedly. All three S. sanguis strains could be implanted, but only one strain induced definite fissure caries. Two S. salivarius strains could not be implanted well in the rats and therefore they were not cariogenic. Four different species of lactobacilli also failed to induce dental caries in rats subjected to similar caries test regimen on diet no. 200. S. mutans strain MT6R (type c) also induce caries in golden hamsters and ICR mice, but of variable degrees.

Effect of sucrose in culture media on the location of glucosyltransferase of Streptococcus mutans and cell adherence to glass surfaces

Streptococcus mutans strain B13 (serotype D) almost exclusively produced free glucosyltransferase (GTase) in the culture supernatant when grown in sucrose-free TTY broth medium, which was composed of Trypticase (Baltimore Biological Laboratory [BBL] Cockeysville, Md.), tryptose (Difco Laboratories, Detroit, Mich.), yeast extract (BBL), salts, and 1% glucose. Organisms grown in sucrose-free TTY broth retained very weak cell-associated GTase activity and did not adhere significantly to glass surfaces in the presence of exogenous sucrose. If sucrose was added to TTY broth, however, GTase was found on the cell surface where cell-bound, water-insoluble glucans were synthesized. Most commercially available products of Todd-Hewitt broth were found to contain trace amounts of sucrose, as did Trypticase soy broth (BBL), whereas brain heart infusion broth (Difco and BBL) was found to be essentially free of sucrose. Almost all detectable GTase activity was cell associated when S. mutans B13 was grown in Todd-Hewitt or trypticase soy broth. Heat-treated B13 cells grown in Todd-Hewitt broth and cell-free, water-insoluble glucans bound free GTase and produced marked adherence in the presence of sucrose. Experiments strongly suggest that the binding sites for free GTase are the surface glucans, and cell-associated and extracellular GTases are most likely alternate states of the same enzyme protein.